Glass and masonry wall construction



April 2, 1957 J. H. GOODWIN 2,787,156

GLASS AND MASONRY WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed g. 5. 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JOHA/ H. Goopwi' /J, B

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GLASS AND MASONRY WALL CONSTRUCTION John H. Goodwin, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Overly Manufacturing Company, Greensburg, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 3, 1951, Serial No. 240,112

1 Claim. (Cl. 72-16) This invention relates to masonry wall construction. More particularly the invention relates to a combination masonry and glass block wall construction in which glass blocks are set in an opening of a masonry construction with the glass blocks resting on a metal sill.-

The metal sill is an important part of the construction in mounting glass blocks in an opening of a brick, stone, molded concrete or concrete block wall in order to prevent moisture from seeping into or through the masonry structure. Experience has shown that there is a tendency for the cement bed on which the glass block rests on top of the sill, to crack. Water works through these cracks and it is necessary to provide a channel .by which the water may work to the outside of the wall or sill, otherwise the Water will flow out and over the insideof the sill and wet the inside of the masonry structure.

In the past it has been customary to rivet or bolt a narrow strip of metal on the upper face of the metal sill to project up into a depression on the lower face of the glass blocks to anchor the cement bed on which the blocks rest to the top of the sill, and to prevent the blocks from sliding on a mortar bed. This metal strip has acted to prevent moisture from working to the outside of the sill, although the sill is set on the mortar bed in an inclining position toward the outside of the wall. The trapping of water on the inner portion of the sill on the inside of the metal strip has given a troublesome moisture condition on the inside of the wall.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a wall construction by which glass block may be mounted on a sill in a masonry or building wall opening and prevent moisture from working into the inside of the wall.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wall construction by which glass blocks may be mounted on a metal sill in a Wall opening with mortar beds below and above the sill, wherein the sill is constructed to prevent slippage of the sill on the wall and also prevent slippage of the book on the mortar bed on the sill and still provide a construction by which water may work its Way to the outside edge of the sill.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the improved wall construction for mounting glass blocks on a sill in a wall opening as hereinafter described and particularly defined in the appended claim.

The various features of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a wall construction with an opening therein in which glms blocks are mounted;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a wall construction showing the mounting of a metallic sill in an opening in the wall for supporting a glass block wall;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a Wall construction taken on the line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the wall construction taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. 2, illustrating sill anchors mounted in the masonry wall;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the wall construcited States Patento tion taken on the line V-V of Fig. 8, showing the construction of a two-part sill with a gutter for conducting moisture to the outside of the sill; r

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line VI-VI of Fig. 8, showing the joint of two-part sill;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a cover plate to cover the tWo-partjoint in thesill; and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of the joint between sill parts and the cover thereof.

Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a masonry wall construction in which a glass block wall is mounted in an opening in the masonry wall. The glass blocks 10 are mounted on a sill 12 which is shown more particularly inFig. 2. The sill is made of comparatively thidextruded aluminum with a downwardly-turned flange 14 at the outside of the sill and an upwardly-turned flange 16 at the inner side of the sill. A series of indentations 18 are formed in the central portion of the sill and extend at spaced intervals along the entire length of the sill. The indentations 18 form an opening on the bottom of the sill to receive mortar and form an upwardly-extending .boss above the plane of the upper face of the sill.

in Fig. 3 is shown the mounting of the sill on the bottom of the wall opening on a bed of mortar 20 which projects into the recess or opening in the bottom of the sill. A second bed of mortar 22is mounted on the upper face of the sill, to receive glass blocks 10. The glass blocks have ribs24 on opposite sides of the bottom of the block which form a recess 26 in the central portion of the bottom of the block. The boss of the indentations projects upwardly toward the recess, and has mortar positioned between the top of theboss and the'botltom. of the recess in the block. The boss on the sill prevents the block from slipping outwardly to the outside of the wall, and the recess 18 on the bottom of the sill receiving the mortar prevents the sill from slipping toward the outside of the wall. It will be noted from Fig. 3 that the inside edge of the sill is positioned at a higher elevation than the outside edge of the sill to provide a natural drainage for moisture or water that may penetrate through the mortar to the sill.

It has been found in practice that particularly the bed of mortar 22 between the top of the sill and the block has a tendency to crack, into which cracks moisture may penetrate. If moisture does penetrate through cracks in the mortar, it will Work down to the sill, and in view of the spaced and separated positions of the indentations 18 the moisture or water can get past the indentations to flow and work its way to the outside of the sill. In this way the water will drip over the outside flange 14 and avoid wetting the wall or making a moisture condition for the masonry wall.

In order to prevent the outside edge of the sill from being moved up above the top of the wall. opening, a lip 28 is formed on the back side of the flange 14 and spaced from the top of the sill. The space between the lip 28 and the sill is adapted to receive a tongue 30 (Fig. 4) formed on the outer edge of an anchor 32 mounted in the masonry wall construction. The anchor preferably extends downwardly into the wall a suflicient distance (to be securely held therein and has a flange 34 which prevents its upward movement. An inner flange 36 is formed on-the back of the top side of the anchor in a position to engage the central portion of the sill to help support the sill.

If the wall opening is more than eight to ten feet wide, it has been found best to make the sill in two parts. With a two-part sill, a joint is formed in the central portion thereof which has a tendency to allow moisture to penetrate through the sill and into the mortar below the sill. To prevent leakage of moisture at the joint of the sill, a. construction such as shown in Fig. 5 is used wherein a cover plate 38 is mounted over the joint 40 and held in position by a screw 42 which is threaded into a gutter bar 44. The cover plate 38 has a reversely-arranged hook 46 to hook over the bottom of the flange 14 on the sill, and a. hook 48 to hook over the flange 16 to prevent the cover plate from being moved upwardly after it is locked in position. The gutter bar rests on the top of the wall construction and its outside edges support the ends of the sill.

An upwardly projecting .tongue 50 is formed at the front side of the gutter bar which extends into the recess 52 above the lip 28 on the sill. At the rear of the gutter bar is formed an upwardly extending flange 54 which closes gutters 56 formed at. each side of a central rib 58. Any moisture which leaks under the cover plate 38 will collect in gutters 56, and since the flange 54 extends to a higher elevation than the tongue 50, water will flow over the tongue to the outside of the wall. The flange 54 will prevent moisture from running to the inside of the wall.

The present invention is concerned particularly with the and spaced below the bottom of the sill plate to rest upon mounting of the glass blocks on the sill in a wall opening. 7

The blocks extending above the bottom row are united by mortar in a usual masonry construction.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial No. 240,113, filed August 3, 1951, and now Patent 2,697,932, dated December 28, 1954.

The preferred form of the invention having been thus described, what isclaimed as new is:

A masonry and glass block Wall construction having a masonry wall provided with an opening therethrough, glass blocks closing said opening and supported therebeneath by an edge portion of said masonry wall defining the bottom of the opening, a bed of mortar disposed upon said wall edge portion, a metal sill plate resting upon the the edge portion of the wall providing a recess between the bottom of the sill plate and the rearwardly projecting flange, a plurality of anchors mounted in the wall below the sill plate and engaging with the rearwardly projecting sill flange, a plurality of indentations extending upwardly from the bottom face of the sill plate and spaced longitudinally of the sill plate, said mortar bed extending into said indentations, a glass block receiving mortar bed upon the top face of the sill plate and extending above the tops of said indentations, and said glass blocks being supported upon said latter mortar bed with the front face of each block in a plane substantially parallel to the front face of the masonry wall, at least one of said sill indentations being disposed beneath one of the glass blocks and fully enclosed by the glass block supporting mortar bed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 271,591 Anderson Feb. 6, 1883 1,031,331 Ellis et al. July 2, 1912 1,867,956 Weinstein July 19, 1932 2,122,926 Blacher July 5, 1938 2,250,951 Guignon July 29, 1941 2,314,238 Ohlis Mar. 16, 1943 2,554,779 Goodwin May 29, 1951 

